Prosecutor: Drug Profile Ruling Won't Affect Volusia

June 29, 1985|By Al Truesdell of The Sentinel Staff

DAYTONA BEACH — A court ruling in Palm Beach County that the Florida Highway Patrol's profile of drug smugglers on the highways is too vague won't influence the outcome of drug cases in Volusia County, a prosecutor said Friday.

Assistant State Attorney Melvin Stack said, ''Each judge will weigh the merits of the profile.'' There are 12 cases in Volusia County.

Palm Beach Circuit Judge Carl Harper ruled Wednesday that the FHP drug courier profile, a list of common characteristics associated with people who smuggle drugs on state highways, is too vague to support convictions in three marijuana cases. The judge suppressed the evidence in the cases.

The Palm Beach ruling is not binding on other circuit courts, but defense attorneys are expected to use it as ammunition when arguing to suppress evidence in the Volusia County cases at court hearings starting in early August.

Stack said the Palm Beach case won't affect his strategy. The Daytona Beach attorney said he intends to use statistics and documentation to prove he drug- smuggling problem in Florida is so severe that it justifies action by the FHP to intercept narcotics traffic.

The situation is so grave the state has a ''compelling interest'' in using the drug courier profile to crack down on smugglers, Stack said.

But Harper ruled the profile is too vague because it includes almost every rented car on the highways. ''The ends simply do not justify unlawful means occasionally employed to combat the problem'' of drug smuggling, the judge said.

FHP officials in Tallahassee said Friday they had not seen the ruling and could not comment until they read the 25-page document.

Michael Alderman, an attorney for the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, FHP's parent agency, said he didn't know what effect the ruling would have on use of the profile.

Defense attorneys have charged that troopers frequently stop black men wearing gold jewelry driving large rented cars headed north on state highways. Daytona Beach lawyer Dan Warren said troopers stop motorists who fit the stereotype for minor traffic violations as a pretext for searching their cars. Last month, a Volusia County FHP trooper said in a sworn deposition that the profile targets black men between 20 and 50.

Stack said profiles have been used by law enforcement officers for years to recognize drunken drivers and car thieves and are used at airports to detect dangerous characters.